State-of-the-art video coding schemes, such as MPEG-4AVC/H.264 (see Non Patent Literature 1) and the upcoming HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding), perform coding of image or video content using inter-picture prediction from previously coded or decoded reference pictures. In other words, the video coding schemes exploit the information redundancy across consecutive pictures in time. In MPEG-4 AVC video coding scheme, reference pictures in the decoded picture buffer (DPB) are managed either using a predefined sliding-window scheme for removing earlier pictures in coding order from the DPB, or explicitly using a number of buffer management signals in the coded bitstream to manage and remove unused reference pictures.